A little lecture performance by Johannes Grenzfurthner / monochrom, as part of Paolo Pedercini's class at CMU.

We may not forget that mankind is a sexual and tool-using species.
From the depiction of a vulva in a cave painting to the newest internet porno, technology and sexuality have always been closely linked. New technologies are quick to appeal to pornography consumers, and thus these customers represent a profitable market segment for the suppliers of new products and services.
Currently, all factors show that high-tech developments owe a great deal of their success to the need for further sexual stimulation. One could cite the example provided by the science-fiction concept of a full-body interface designed to produce sexual stimulation. But it isn't science fiction anymore. It's DIY.
As bio-hacking, sexually enhanced bodies, genetic utopias and plethora of gender have long been the focus of literature, science fiction and, increasingly, pornography, this year will see us explore the possibilities that fictional and authentic bodies have to offer.
Our world is already way more bizarre than our ancestors could have ever imagined. But it may not be bizarre enough. "Bizarre enough for what?" -- you might ask. Bizarre enough to subvert the heterosexist matrix that is underlying our world and that we should hack and overcome for some quite pressing reasons within the next century.
Don't you think, replicants?

February 24, 2015, 6:30 PM on CMU main campus in Pittsburgh/USA, College of Fine Arts building, 3rd floor, room 307.

We took some time and edited and uploaded all the available recordings of Arse Elektronika talks and presentions.
They can be found on the "Schedule" pages (on the front page for 2014,
and in the archive section for all AEs 2007-2013). Just click on MP3!

Dispatch from Arse Elektronika -- Some Things Games Can Learn from Sex & Tech

Mattie Brice wrote a great piece about Arse Elektronika 2014.

This past weekend, I went to the annual sex and tech conference in San Francisco, Arse Elektronika.
This was actually the first conference I spoke at back in 2012 when it
was specifically about play and games, and I got to come again this year
to see what new projects people thinking and crafting about sex were up
to. This conference tends to attract a cross-section of toy makers and
academics interested in sex topics, but also nets in software people and
artists.

What’s interesting for me about this group of people who convene over
sex and tech is how similar and different the mood is to my experience
in video games. The demographics are about the same, with maybe the
ratio of women you’d see at an indie games event, so higher than the
industry but not as much as men. But there is an unspoken understanding
of non-judgment that I see in the kink community in SF that makes it
easier for people to bend outside of gender norms for the most part. If
anything, a lot of baggage around heteronormativity and monogamy is left
behind, but technocentrism and the centering of hegemonic masculinity’s
relationship with sex still exists. An interesting site of reference if
you want to see the dynamics where fluid sexuality is a thing and how
men, and sometimes others, relate to each other in a context they don’t
really get to outside of these situations. So I wanted to share with you
all my thoughts on some of the presentations and how they relate to our
realm of play.

Trans is a Latin noun or prefix, meaning "across", "beyond" or "on the
opposite side". What does that mean for sex and technology?
- Transitions, translations, transgressions, transistors &
transducers, transactions, transmission (specifically sexually
transmitted infections), transdermal?
- How does sex change as we age? As we grow, as we mature? And what
about old age? Sex in nursing homes? Sex when people have lost much of
their sense of identity with Alzheimer's Disease and the like, but are
still horny, still sexual entities? How do pharma and biotech
help/monetize this situation?
- Sex under drugs, sex under other altered states? Is Viagra a drug? At
what point does a loss of cognitive function take away our ability to
consent?
- Transnationality and sex. What about translations and transitions
across cultures? For example: Hacking, porn, dissent in Iran? Purity
Balls and the American obsession with virginity whatever that really
means?
- How does our sex and our perception of sex change with the
introduction of new gadgets? Who are the early (sexual) adopters? And
what about the adapters? What about (white male) privilege and new
gadgets? Google Glass Ceiling?
- SCOT (social construction of technology) research, such as that of
Mackenzie and Wajcman, argues that the path of innovation and its social
consequences are strongly, if not entirely shaped by society itself
through the influence of culture, politics, economic arrangements,
regulatory mechanisms and the like. So if its true that technology
itself doesnt matter, but the social or economic system in which it is
embedded (Langdon Winner), then what does that tell us about the
transition from sex tech into the cultural mainstream?
- Is human sexual behavior transforming our planet? What's the sexual side of the anthropocene?
- Transgression and mechanophila? Is our technological society driven by
erotogenic fixation on machinery? What about hardcore pornography such
as Fucking Machines? Can this be seen as constituting the limit of
current sexual biopolitics?
- Sex puppets, Real Dolls and the Uncanny Valley? A never-ending transition?
- Teagan Widmer's latest app, Refuge Restrooms, highlights the
importance of providing safe public accommodations for trans people. How
can apps like Widmers help with tasks that most people take for
granted, like the ability to use the bathroom?
- Is trans* a controversial label online? How do we develop
language-theory-activism in general? Programming languages are designed
to be inclusive of "trans" in a broad sense for both binary and
non-binary gender modalities. Does it have transmisogynist qualities?
- Feminists, among other critical scholars, have long argued the
problems with the notion of the Transcendental. Focusing on the
transcendental moves our attention away from the day-to-day struggles
involving the material and instead replaces it with transcendent ideas
and ideals. How is this manifested through issues of sexuality and
technology? What can we do about it? What are the power struggles
involved, positionalities afforded and relationships to, that
transcendental modes of thought afford for socio-economically
marginalized populations? Can we compare and contrast notions of
transcendence alongside notions of immanence? What is the role of the
body and embodiment with respect to transcendentalism? What are the
implications of transcendental for power? Grassroots activism? Citizens'
movements? Open source? Hacking? Can we have visions of the future
without being transcendental?
- And, last but not least, since sex is a pretty biological thing
(insofar as things are biological things), we want to remind of genetics
with our theme. Genetic
transformation/translation/transcription/transmission.

Submit a talk, a performance, a game, a workshop, a machine, a system!
(Online form)

Deadline: August 5, 2014.
Our selection will be announced August 20, 2014.

We may not forget that mankind is a sexual and tool-using species.
From the depiction of a vulva in a cave painting to the newest internet porn game, technology and sexuality have always been closely linked. New technologies are quick to appeal to pornography consumers, and thus these customers represent a profitable market segment for the suppliers of new products and services.
Currently, all factors show that high-tech developments owe a great deal of their success to the need for further sexual stimulation. One could cite the example provided by the science-fiction concept of a full-body interface designed to produce sexual stimulation. But it isn't science fiction anymore. It's DIY.

As bio-hacking, sexually enhanced bodies, genetic utopias and plethora of gender have long been the focus of literature, science fiction and, increasingly, pornography, this year will see us explore the possibilities that fictional and authentic bodies have to offer.

Our world is already way more bizarre than our ancestors could have ever imagined. But it may not be bizarre enough. "Bizarre enough for what?" -- you might ask. Bizarre enough to subvert the heterosexist matrix that is underlying our world and that we should hack and overcome for some quite pressing reasons within the next century.
Don't you think, replicants?

June 6, 2014, as part of Lyst Conference on the MF William Jørgensen in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"Are You Ready to Fuck Like a Nerd?" -- Arse Elektronika shout-out on Vice blog

Sure, classic nerds might be into MythBusters, Magic: the Gathering, and Minecraft. But
they’re also into sex. In fact, the crossover between sex and the more
traditional realms of nerd interest is longstanding; science fiction,
for example, is frequently pointed at as a source of progressive and
even transgressive sexual theory.

In devising alternate universes, authors, filmmakers, and fans imagine
new ways of living, loving, and fucking. Sci-fi and comics are full of
latex and leather and futuristic orgy planets where anything goes.
Everyone loves it. Conventions like Arse Elektronika exist exclusively to provide an intersection for the worlds of sex and tech.

Trans is a Latin noun or prefix, meaning "across", "beyond" or "on the opposite side". What does that mean for sex and technology?
- Transitions, translations, transgressions, transistors & transducers, transactions, transmission (specifically sexually transmitted infections), transdermal?
- How does sex change as we age? As we grow, as we mature? And what about old age? Sex in nursing homes? Sex when people have lost much of their sense of identity with Alzheimer's Disease and the like, but are still horny, still sexual entities? How do pharma and biotech help/monetize this situation?
- Sex under drugs, sex under other altered states? Is Viagra a drug? At what point does a loss of cognitive function take away our ability to consent?
- Transnationality and sex. What about translations and transitions across cultures? For example: Hacking, porn, dissent in Iran? Purity Balls and the American obsession with virginity whatever that really means?
- How does our sex and our perception of sex change with the introduction of new gadgets? Who are the early (sexual) adopters? And what about the adapters? What about (white male) privilege and new gadgets? Google Glass Ceiling?
- SCOT (social construction of technology) research, such as that of Mackenzie and Wajcman, argues that the path of innovation and its social consequences are strongly, if not entirely shaped by society itself through the influence of culture, politics, economic arrangements, regulatory mechanisms and the like. So if its true that technology itself doesnt matter, but the social or economic system in which it is embedded (Langdon Winner), then what does that tell us about the transition from sex tech into the cultural mainstream?
- Is human sexual behavior transforming our planet? What's the sexual side of the anthropocene?
- Transgression and mechanophila? Is our technological society driven by erotogenic fixation on machinery? What about hardcore pornography such as Fucking Machines? Can this be seen as constituting the limit of current sexual biopolitics?
- Sex puppets, Real Dolls and the Uncanny Valley? A never-ending transition?
- Teagan Widmer's latest app, Refuge Restrooms, highlights the importance of providing safe public accommodations for trans people. How can apps like Widmers help with tasks that most people take for granted, like the ability to use the bathroom?
- Is trans* a controversial label online? How do we develop language-theory-activism in general? Programming languages are designed to be inclusive of "trans" in a broad sense for both binary and non-binary gender modalities. Does it have transmisogynist qualities?
- Feminists, among other critical scholars, have long argued the problems with the notion of the Transcendental. Focusing on the transcendental moves our attention away from the day-to-day struggles involving the material and instead replaces it with transcendent ideas and ideals. How is this manifested through issues of sexuality and technology? What can we do about it? What are the power struggles involved, positionalities afforded and relationships to, that transcendental modes of thought afford for socio-economically marginalized populations? Can we compare and contrast notions of transcendence alongside notions of immanence? What is the role of the body and embodiment with respect to transcendentalism? What are the implications of transcendental for power? Grassroots activism? Citizens' movements? Open source? Hacking? Can we have visions of the future without being transcendental?
- And, last but not least, since sex is a pretty biological thing (insofar as things are biological things), we want to remind of genetics with our theme. Genetic transformation/translation/transcription/transmission.